My favourite room: ‘We did the back and lived in the front with a camping stove and air fryer’ — The DIY couple behind this semi-d makeover

When Eimear O’Dowd and Stuart White extended their ‘bog standard’ semi-d, they added to the front as well as the back and increased their space by 50pc. In the process, they created a fabulous home

Make-up artist Eimear O’Dowd and plumbing contractor Stuart White with their Schnauzer Billy in their new kitchen, which won an award for Dillon Kitchens of Ashbourne. The dark units are brightened by shiny brass knobs. Photo: Tony Gavin

Mary O'Sullivan

William Morris’s Arts and Crafts movement was among the most revolutionary developments in house design in the last two centuries — Morris believed in marrying function with beauty. So when you find an artistic person and a craftsman tackling a renovation, it’s almost certainly going to be a renovation made in heaven. Make-up artist Eimear O’Dowd and plumber Stuart White have between them created a lovely home in Tallaght, Co Dublin that is at once functional, comfortable, stylish and elegant.

However, that’s not to assume that Eimear is all about the look of things and Stuart only looks after the functional aspects. She was almost as hands on as Stuart when it came to digging up foundations and stripping back plasterwork. Similarly, Stuart has a great eye for the visual — he loves art, favouring in particular the work of Dublin artist Maser — and absorbs new interiors ideas as he goes about his work in people’s homes. He’s the service engineer for Bora hobs and because they tend to be fitted in contemporary kitchens, he gets to see up close the most cutting-edge design.